The Fifth Marauder
Chapter 11
The morning of April 1st was filled with tension. It was a known fact that the Marauders liked to pull an extravagant prank on April Fool's Day, and since Nixie had joined their ranks, no one knew when or how the prank was going to take place. Their pranks had certainly become more complex and spectacular due to Nixie's involvement, which caused even more tension among the students and staff of Hogwarts. Dumbledore sat down to breakfast, seemingly at ease, which made McGonagall worry even more.
"Albus, how can you be so calm?" She asked, looking nervously over at where the Marauders sat. She couldn't deny that she had a soft spot for the quintet, but even she was unable to hide her unease when she knew a prank was expected.
"Today is always a day to look forward to. You never know what might happen." Dumbledore replied, also looking at the group in question. The Marauders were all sat together, looking like they didn't have a care in the world. Sirius sat with his arm around Nixie's shoulders, a sight that has become expected over the past couple of weeks, while she leant into him slightly. James sat on Sirius' other side, and Remus and Peter sat across from them. None of them looked worried or concerned about anything, and they seemed to take their time with eating for once.
"We good?" James muttered to Sirius. Sirius turned his head, kissing Nixie's head as an excuse to look at the head table, seeing that they were being watched.
"Yep. Everyone's eyes are on us." He muttered back, turning back to his food. "You think they're buying it?"
"Are you doubting my magical abilities?" Nixie asked, smirking slightly.
"Of course not, I'm just wondering if Dumbledore is actually falling for it." He said, quickly back tracking to get himself out of trouble.
"The holograms are good. How did you do it?" James asked, trying to keep his voice quiet.
"They're not holograms. I borrowed a couple of elves from the kitchen and transfigured them into Moony and Wormtail. They were more than happy to help." She replied, making the two across from them smile.
"Yes! We elves are very happy to help the Marauders with everything they require!" The elf who looked like Remus said in a quiet, but high pitched voice. The boys looked at Nixie who shrugged.
"Hey, I'm good at human transfiguration, not changing voices." She said, making them smile.
"Well, it should be done by now. Shall we?" Sirius asked, standing up and holding his hand out to Nixie.
"We shall. Come on you two." She said. They all stood and walked out of the hall, everyone's eyes following them. Once the doors opened, there was a collective gasp throughout the room, as the 5 continued walking without pausing. The hallway had been transformed into a jungle, the floor covered in roots, grass, flowers and mud, and trees lining the walls. The ceiling was even enchanted, almost the same as the Great Hall's ceiling, to show a blue sky and sun shining through the branches that neared the ceiling.
"Well, this is certainly new." Dumbledore commented as he began to make his way to his office. Everyone soon realised that the stairs had vanished, and had been replaced with strong vines and branches. Some vines made seats for students to sit in and carry them to whatever floor they wanted, whereas some made everyone climb up them, or swing down if they needed to go to a lower floor. Some 7th years used levitation charms, but they soon found that when anyone used this, they got snatched up by a vine and deposited on the ground floor again.
Throughout the day, students were late to lessons due to the stair situation, and the Marauders watched happily whenever they could. Remus and Peter were once again back with their friends, and the elves had been turned back and sent back to the kitchen.
"Good job you two." Nixie said as they swung down from the 4th floor to the 2nd.
"Thanks Nix. The potions worked great." Remus replied. They had spent the past 2 weeks brewing potions that would help them to create the jungle they did, and Remus had to charm the stairs into the vines as Peter used the potions, and convinced all of the paintings to move to the frames in Rothburn's office and spend the day complaining to him, which they were more than happy to do.
"Well, I'd call this a successful April fools. Don't you think?" James asked, making them all cheer in agreement.
"How do you think Rothburn's getting on in his overcrowded office?" Sirius asked, making them all smirk.
"Oh, I think he's probably close to killing every painting in the castle." Remus replied.
"So it was a bad idea to get Peeves to join in?" Nixie asked, making them freeze.
"You didn't?" James asked in shock. A loud bang sounded down the hall, followed by Rothburn running past them, Peeves hot on his tail.
"Burn Burn! You can't run from me!" Peeves called as he followed the DADA professor, making the 5 teens laugh.
"She did!" Sirius replied, wrapping an arm around Nixie's waist. "Nice job."
"Thanks. Anything to get on his nerves." She said with a bright smile
"You still think he's out to get you?" Remus asked, looking paler than normal.
"He knows. I'm sure of it." She said before smiling brightly. "Anyway, full moons this week. You guys up to more exploring?"
Xxxx
By the end of the week, the Marauders were all extremely tense. They were all beginning to believe that Nixie's theory about Rothburn was right, and the signs were all there. For one, he was constantly hinting that he knew what she was, and it seemed like he was trying to make her life hell. He always gave her awful grades for her work, even though he gave Sirius a much higher mark for the same work that he had copied from her. He was always asking her impossible questions in class and giving her detentions for ridiculous reasons.
"This is getting insane!" Lily exclaimed in the Gryffindor common room as she paced back and forth.
"Lil, chill out." Nixie said, trying to read her book. She was lying on the sofa in front of the fire, her legs resting on Sirius and James' laps as they sat with her, Remus and Peter sat in the armchairs next to them.
"Nix, Rothburn just gave you detention for breathing too loud! Lily's right, we need to do something." Remus said, trying to be the voice of reason of the group.
"We need to go to Dumbledore." Lily said, stopping her pacing and putting her hands on her hips.
"We can't go to Dumbledore." Nixie said, putting her book down and looking at all of them. "It's my word against his. If Dumbledore even suspects that I'm lying, I'll have to leave Hogwarts, which means Remus would have to leave."
"Why would Remus have to leave?" Peter asked, looking confused.
"The only reason that Remus is allowed to come here is because I'm here to control him on a full moon." She said, leaning back and closing her eyes.
"You don't know that will happen. For all you know Dumbledore will sack him and you'll be fine." Sirius said, trying to calm her down.
"I can't take that risk. It affects Remus too and I can't be the reason he can't attend Hogwarts anymore." She said, standing up.
"Nixie, it doesn't matter." Remus said, standing up too.
"It does matter! You could get kicked out! I am not going to do that to you!" She exclaimed.
"I don't care! You are more important! I won't stand by when you could be in danger, none of us will. We care about you too much to stand aside and do nothing." He said, grabbing her shoulders and looking into her eyes.
"But it's your education I could be ruining." She said, trying not to cry.
"Your safety is more important than my education. I can just get home-schooled." He said, pulling her into a hug. "Besides, we're the Marauders. We look after each other."
"You guys are adorable, but can we make some sort of plan?" Lily asked, crossing her arms.
"Lily's right. We have to do something." James said, making Lily look at him in shock.
"You're agreeing with me?" She asked, not believing what she was hearing.
"Another time lovebirds." Sirius said, making them roll their eyes as he wrapped his arms around Nixie from behind, resting his head on top of hers. "Right now, we need to do something. Either we prank Rothburn to the extent that he never messes with the Marauders again, or we get him fired."
"Is there any point to getting him fired? It's nearly the end of the year." Peter said.
"I like the fired idea." Lily said, making them all look at her in shock. "What? Just because I don't agree with your pranking methods and the fact that you're always getting in trouble, doesn't mean that I won't do everything I can to protect my friend."
"Wow Lil. You're spending way too much time around me." Nixie laughed. "Anyway, I need to get some air. I'll see you guys later." She gave Sirius a quick kiss before leaving the room, heading towards the astronomy tower.
As she walked down the corridor, she froze, hearing a noise behind her. But when she looked around, she couldn't see anything. She shrugged and kept walking, only to be thrown to the side from a strong force, throwing her into an empty classroom and slamming her into the wall. She groaned as she hit the floor, pain erupting from her back and legs. She slowly sat up, shaking her head to try and clear the fuzziness that set in.
"I finally have you alone." A voice said, making her look up to see Professor Rothburn standing in the doorway, a menacing smirk on his face.
"Rothburn?" She gasped, feeling slightly winded from when she hit the wall. "What are you doing?"
"I am finally doing what I was sent here to do. Find the student that Dumbledore is keeping a secret and bring them to the Dark Lord. And he will reward me greatly for bringing such a prize." He said, shutting the door and locking it behind him.
"The Dark Lord? Who is that?" She asked, trying not to wince as she stood up.
"He is the man who will return the wizarding world to its former glory, where pure bloods ruled the world and mudbloods were slaves." He said, slowly walking across the room.
"You obviously don't know your history very well." She said, glaring at him. "And I assume you're on about that Voldemort dude who's attacking all those muggles and muggleborns."
"Don't besmirch the Dark Lords name, you insufficient brat. Now, to see if what Dumbledore said is true." He flicked his wand at her, only for the spell to bend at the last minute and not hit her. "Hmm. It seems even Dumbledore downplayed your abilities."
"What has Dumbledore told you about me?" She asked, trying to stall in the hopes that the Marauders looked at the map and saw what was going on.
"All he has said, is that you have more magical potential than any other student here. I worked the rest out for myself." He said, grinning manically. "Now, why don't you show me those wings of yours?" Nixie glanced around nervously, praying that the Marauders would find her.